• Originally published July 1, 2008 at 12:04 a.m., updated July 1, 2008 at 12:04 a.m.

“Most plants thrive on animal waste, but I’m afraid this mutation possesses an appetite for the animal itself.”

You’d think the battle would be pretty one-sided: humans, with all their herbicides and modern technology, against humble plants that have changed little in the last 1,000 years or so.

But it ain’t that simple, as many who have fought these plants have found out.

Monday morning, when I saw the Advocate photo of those two men spraying invasive plants in the Guadalupe River delta area, plants that threaten to choke off the river’s flow, it reminded me of a movie I saw when I was a little boy.

It was called “Day of the Triffids,” and it was about these seeds from space that grew into big, tall plants that could uproot themselves and walk, and which fed on people.

In the movie, they tried everything to kill the triffids, but without success.

Finally, they retreated to a lighthouse, where they accidentally found out that sea water from their fire hose killed the attacking plants.

That whole movie scared the bejeebers out of this little boy. English-made horror flicks always scared me. There was Peter Cushing, with that look of pure terror on his face when Christopher Lee, as Frankenstein’s monster, grabbed him by the throat. Then there was Christopher Lee as Count Dracula, tall and absolutely evil looking, with those eyes that burned a hole right through you.

But “Triffids” was my scariest favorite, even though it was just a bunch of plants. The English film makers had a way of making them terrifying.

Oh well, back to real life.

I’ll always remember, on a trip through Louisiana many years ago, looking at my first big growth of kudzu. That’s a vine imported into Florida from the Far East back in the early 1950s as food for cattle and horses. But quite quickly, kudzu began to take over every other plant in sight.

Nothing stopped it. When the prolific plant came to a bayou or creek, it just grew right across it. Rocks? No problem. It covered them in a hurry. The stuff even killed grown trees by stealing their sunlight.

The Parks and Wildlife people sprayed it and did everything else they could to kill it, but it was all in vain. Today, it’s still going strong, so strong they’re now studying ways to make medicines and herbal remedies out of it.

Then there’s hydrilla, the plant that covers our lakes if we don’t fight it constantly. And even then, it’s a constant battle that doesn’t allow us to rest for long between skirmishes.

Luckily, the triffids were only in the imagination of an English novelist and some movie makers across the Pond.

The real stuff we’re battling doesn’t eat us.

At least, not yet.

Jim Bishop is a senior editor for the Advocate. Leave him a message at 361-574-1210, or jbishop@vicad.com or comment on this column at www.victoriaadvocate.com.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •